Teach Your Baby to Swim

Taking the First Steps

Water makes us very afraid when we know how easily a baby could drown. Today we are going to tell you how to teach your baby to swim from when he is very small. They will start to have confidence in the water and you will feel much more secure and calm.

The first contact with the water should be in the bath since you can support the baby much better. Put the baby in the bath and fill it with water until it covers the chest. Do this several times. Also, if you use toys in your bathroom it would be advisable to take them to your lessons in the pool too, so that your baby feels secure with familiar things. After, swimming lessons will come in the pool.

It is very important that your baby feels relaxed in the water and learns to float, but that does not mean that he is out of danger of drowning. You must always be with your child and either hold him or keep him at arm’s length at all times. Never leave it alone near a swimming pool or even a smaller body of water, like a bucket with three fingers of water, not even for a second.

What is the best age to start?

The recommended age to start practicing water awareness is 4 months although with the right instructor you baby can be in the water almost from newborn. Some swimming schools do not admit babies until 6 months old because they do not have facilities adapted for such small babies.

Forget the floats. If you bought them to make them feel safer in the water, the experts do not recommend them. Not only can it give them a false sense of security, but they will also adopt an incorrect way of staying afloat, as it makes them take a vertical position in the water when they need to be able to stand horizontally. If you are already used to swimming with them, it will be difficult to take them off. If you want your child to learn to swim more easily, try these water games:

Give your baby a straw and encourage him to blow into the water.

Drag him holding his arms while he kicks with his feet.

Put him to float on his back, supporting his head and back. Move in zig-zag.

Teach him to jump from the edge, holding him first from below with his hands. Then encourage him to jump without help, but stand up, not head down.

After 15 months , although it also depends as soon as the child begins to become familiar with the water, their learning is a little faster, because they already know how to walk and this makes them move better. Babies who have contact with water will begin to crawl , walk, move, communicate with other children much quicker.

Finally, it is important, to teach certain basic rules about swimming from a very early age, which will provide some extra safety measures to enjoy the lessons safely:

Do not get into the water without first tellng an adult

Do not jump in without permission or supervision of an adult

Shower before and after the pool

Use other protection methods such as sunscreen, flip flops to avoid fungus in swimming pools or goggles to protect the eyes from chlorine or salt

Do not run or play on the curb of the pool

Private Swimming

All our swimming lessons are in our private
pool.

Just you & your swimming instructor.

Residential Swims

Private self-catering, next to our private
swimming pool - no sharing - just concentrate on your swimming lessons
not travelling back and forth to the pool.

Swim Instructors

Your swimming instructor is there for you
and no-one else.

During your course you will have their undivided
attention and plenty of time to ask questions about your lessons
and swimming progress.

Teaching the Phobic

Both Irene and Gay are ex water phobics
who learned to swim late in life going on to qualify as swim instructors
and specialising in water phobias.

Struggling to Swim?

Swimming lessons for those who have struggled
to learn to swim for years are another of our specialities.
Let us teach you simple techniques that seem to evade traditional
swimming teachers.